I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the state of politics and how there are two main parties yet there are endless political opinions.

This made me think.. Do the EDL have the right sort of idea? Not politically, of course. In fact I would argue they’re verging on a hate group but they’re vocal and they’re out there! Most people don’t agree with them, most people could go as far as saying they despise them… But they’ve heard of them.

So this had me thinking – Should we all be so vocal? Do you have something that you believe, that you are passionate about? Why keep it to yourself when there could be thousands of people that agree with you.

We should be arranging marches and petitions. We should be telling the government what we want rather than complacently saying, “Oh. Well I guess they know best.” We voted them in. They are meant to be representing US! This is not a dictatorship they are there for the people.

Maybe you’re right. Maybe one letter to your local council member won’t make a difference. But i’m pretty damn sure 1000 will! If you don’t like something and your friends and family don’t like something your next door neighbours don’t like something, stand up and shout, “Mr. Councilman/Mr. MP/Mr. MSP WE WANT CHANGE!”

This leads me onto one of my biggest pet hates. The idea that political opinions are private. The idea that you shouldn’t be discussing politics in case you, god forbid, offend people. A colleague of mine once told me, “You should never discuss politics or religion in the work place.” Why not? Politics is a very important subject! The fact that we both worked there, was in essence, politics. Everything, EVERYTHING is effected by politics.

We as Brits are constantly talking about the weather as it’s always there and it’s always ‘interesting’ small talk. Politics is always there and it’s an awful lot more interesting that the weather so why can’t we talk about that too? If you have an opinion on something then don’t be afraid to talk about it. You may not want to because you aren’t very knowledgeable on it. Discussing and debating could be a fast track route to learning an awful lot more about it.

I have a good friend in which we share very few political similarities. Yet we discuss it constantly, as everyone should. This means that we both can look at the other side, we can both try to understand where the other side is coming from. I can tell you one thing for sure – It has helped us both cement our political ideologies.

And on that note I wish to leave you with this – Talk about politics! Talk to your friends, your family, your neighbours dog. Just talk! You may learn something new, you may teach them something new. You may even recruit someone into your way of thinking or, fingers crossed, get someone who wasn’t interested in politics really into it!